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Lucien reainst that tree And he watched in silence as Ianthe stooped to pick up a gray, rough rock about the size of an apple

"Put your right hand on that boulder"

She obeyed, though a treainstan screa

"Smash your hand with the rock as hard as you can until I tell you to stop"

The hand she’d put on hiht the stone up The first impact was a muffled, wet thud

The second was an actual crack

The third drew blood

Her arony

And I said to her very clearly, "You will never touch another person against their will You will never convince yourself that they truly want your advances; that they’re playing games You will never know another’s touch unless they initiate, unless it’s desired by both sides"

Thwack; crack; thud

"You will not remember what happened here You will tell the others that you fell"

Her ring finger had shifted in the wrong direction

"You are allowed to see a healer to set the bones But not to erase the scarring And every ti to reainst their will has consequences, and if you do it again, everything you are will cease to exist You will live with that terror every day, and never knohere it originates Only the fear of so for you the instant you let your guard down"

Silent tears of pain flowed down her face

"You can stop now"

The bloodied rock turass Her hand was little more than cracked bones wrapped in shredded skin

"Kneel here until someone finds you"

Ianthe fell to her knees, her ruined hand leaking blood onto her pale robes

"I debated slitting your throat this ht while you slept beside le day since I learned you sold out my sisters to Hybern" I smiled a bit "But I think this is a better punish life, Ianthe, and never know a er, tying off the tapestry of words and commands I’d woven into her mind, and turned to Lucien He’d fixed his pants, his shirt